Mohammed Moussa

organizing spoken word events in Gaza, like Gaza Youth Speaks in July 2018, Hymns of Peace in November 2018, and the last one was Our Dreams Matter.

And I've been doing this, you know,

with the help of friends, we were fundraising for the events by ourselves because we wanted to do something that resemble us, you know, and what we do.

And when I recall the moments we founded this community, when I used to meet weekly with the poets from Gaza and connect with poets from all over the world,

it was really encouraging for the poets to come and see the other and learn from the other and talk about poetry across countries you know and how poetry how poets here write poetry how poets in gaza share poetry how me and the poets could meet and build poetry together write a poem you know one poem with all of the poets and it was really really

beautiful experience for me, for the poets, also when they stepped on the stage for the first time during these events because, again, you know, it's always political as a Gazan to participate in an event and you have to talk about specific things, but you really get the chance to step on the stage to talk about yourself, you know, as a poet, as a Gazan, as a woman, as a man.

And these were unique for the poets and they were so happy when they stepped on the stage for the first time.

And it was really interesting also for me, you know, to find a community that share the passion I share with poetry, with spoken word, with the music and with art.

The thing about poetry is with its fragmented form,

offers you a space to express yourself.

And the other forms couldn't express, couldn't offer me this space.

The story would take time to finish, to complete.

And a podcast would take time to finish.

Prose would take time to finish.

Writing a novel, writing a book would take time to finish.

But the fragmentation, the urgency of what poetry is and what makes poetry unique offered me a window to look from and to talk to the world immediately.

And our realities as Palestinians, as Gazans,

is really fragmented and urgent.

Suddenly a war happens and we have to talk to the world.

And during these times, especially during this genocide, I couldn't do any journalism at all.